The First Time
by 2queens1prince
Summary: Tumblr prompt: The first time Henry and Elizabeth meet is in an unusual place.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: From a Tumblr prompt

Madam Secretary Prompt: Elizabeth & Henry meet as students at the University of Virginia, but they don't meet on campus or even at a party. They meet at the hospital.

Hope you like it. As always, reviews are appreciated, and I don't mind constructive criticism.

It had started as just a twinge, a little stabbing pain. Elizabeth Adams placed her hand just above her pelvis. "Damn cramps," she muttered under her breath. She continued walking to class, the thought briefly crossing her mind that it was a little early in the month for that.

Sitting through class, the straight A sophomore struggled to maintain her razor sharp focus, the cramping becoming more noticeable as the hour passed. Elizabeth left class immediately and started the long walk home, taking a couple breaks as she walked the eight blocks back to her dorm room.

Finally stepping inside her room, she grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and dumped three, or maybe it was four, into her hand. Quickly popping them into her mouth, she swallowed them with a gulp of water left in a cup on her bedside shelf.

Beads of sweat formed along her hairline as she curled into the fetal position, praying for sleep to come. She wasn't sure if she slept or not, but looking at the clock, Elizabeth saw that an hour had passed. She pushed herself to a sitting position, only to fall back to the bed. The pain was so intense, tears pushed their way out of her eyes. This was obviously something much worse than menstrual cramps.

Elizabeth tried to clear her head enough to make a plan. She knew she needed to get to the hospital. Her roommate had already left town, and with Spring Break officially starting tomorrow, the dorm was virtually empty. She didn't have the strength to go door to door hoping to find someone who could drive her. The hospital was only four or five blocks away. She reasoned that she could drive herself there faster than an ambulance could come for her.

With sheer determination, Elizabeth stood and walked to the door. The pain was unbearable, but she only had to make it to the car. Then it would only take a few minutes to get to the hospital. "You can do this," she told herself.

Making her way to the parking lot, she was thankful that she had managed to snag the closest spot last night when she returned home from a late night study session at the library. Falling into the driver's seat, it took her a moment to collect herself enough to drive.

Making her way to the hospital in short order and without incident, she saw an open parking spot close to the emergency room entrance. Just as she was pulling into the spot, a new surge of blinding pain ripped through her abdomen causing her to miss the brakes and hit the parking stop forcefully.

Elizabeth cracked her head hard on the steering wheel, but had enough wherewithal to put the car in park and shut off the engine. Steeling herself for the short walk into the ER, she stepped out of the car. Elizabeth made it two steps before the pain tore through her core again, this time causing her to lose consciousness. She fell in a heap between her car and the one parked next to her.

Henry McCord was just about to finish up his two hour shift at his work study job. The senior religious studies major was standing in front of a large filing cabinet, filing papers for the business office staff. The switchboard rang with an incoming call. Henry sat down in the swivel chair, spun around, and grabbed the phone. "University of Virginia, how may I direct your call?" Listening, he scanned the long list for the right extension. "Alright, Professor Knight's extension is 341. I'll transfer you. Have a good day." He punched a few buttons, hung up and whipped around in the chair to finish his task.

Henry didn't realize the weight of the file drawer had caused it to slide out several inches farther than when he left it. When he spun around, Henry caught the bottom edge of the file drawer just along the top edge of his eyebrow. "Son of a-" he spat out. His hand immediately flew up to his eye and was met with the warm, sticky liquid that could only be blood.

"I don't have time for this," he said in annoyance. He grabbed several tissues from the box on the desk and slapped them over his eye.

Henry popped his head into the office of his supervisor, Dr. Marsden, who was taken aback by the sight in front of her. "Henry, my gosh, what on earth happened?"

"Oh, I turned around too quickly and the file drawer caught me." Henry was a little embarrassed by the whole incident to tell the truth.

Dr. Marsden, stood and approached Henry, pulling back the tissue. "Oh yeah, that will need stitches. Let me drive you to the hospital."

"Oh no, that's fine. I can take myself," Henry said, both wanting to avoid inconveniencing his boss and having to further humiliate himself with the ridiculousness how he'd injured himself. "My car is just outside."

She looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure?" Then she caught on to why he wouldn't want her assistance. "Hold on a minute." She stepped out of her office and went into the staff lounge a couple doors down. She came back just seconds later with a cloth towel. "Here this will work better to stop the bleeding." She handed him the towel.

"Thanks," Henry said replacing the tissues with the towel and dropping them into the trash can nearest the door.

"Ok, I'm going to cal the hospital and let them know you are on your way and that the school will be paying for the visit." Henry simply nodded. "Have a nice spring break," he called to her on his way out the office door.

Three hours later, Henry walked back out of the hospital, with five brand new stitches above his eye. He was beyond annoyed that this happened. It had made him miss his class, one that he really couldn't afford to miss. Now, he was going to have to find someone to get the notes from. His mind was reeling with all of these things as he walked through the parking lot. As he opened his car door, he caught a glimpse of something fly through the air out of the corner of his eye. Stepping back, he looked across the lot and saw a woman laying on the ground.

"What the-?" Henry pushed his door shut and ran over to the woman. She was pale and had a bruise forming across her forehead, but she was breathing.

"Hold on. Let's get you inside." Henry scooped her up in his arms and started crossing the distance to the ER. Staring down at her, Henry couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. Her blonde curls fell over his shoulder and he could feel them brushing against his arm as they moved. "Please, someone help!" he cried as he went through the double doors. A nurse stepped to the window and when she saw Henry with the unconscious woman, she flagged a resident down to help Henry. They got her to a bed.

As the nurse returned and was taking her vitals, she asked, "Name?"

"Henry McCord."

The triage nurse looked up at him, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes, displeasure evident in her voice. "Hers, not yours."

"Oh, I have no idea. I just found her collapsed in the parking lot." Henry paused for a second. "Let me go check. I think her purse was by the car." Henry disappeared and returned a minute later with her purse.

He fished out her wallet and looked at her driver's license. Henry's breath caught in his throat when he looked at those eyes. Stuttering, he said. "H-her name is Elizabeth. Elizabeth Adams." He handed the nurse Elizabeth's license. "Maybe you can get some of what you need from this."

Just then, Elizabeth regained consciousness. She groaned. "Ohhhhh."

The nurse dropped the paperwork. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Sharp. Pain. Here," Elizabeth's breaths were shallow and labored. She pointed to her lower abdomen.

"Okay hon, Let's get the doctor in here." The nurse stepped outside. Elizabeth writhed in pain. Henry watched in agony. Part of him thought he needed to leave because he didn't know this person and the other part thought that she shouldn't be left alone, so he just stood off to the back and waited.

Minutes later the doctor came in and examined Elizabeth. Henry stepped out of the back and went to the waiting room. The nurse nodded to him indicating that she would let him know what was going on.

The doctor sent Elizabeth to the ultrasound lab, where the doctor's suspicions were confirmed. Elizabeth had an ovarian cyst that was rupturing. The doctor ordered an IV to be put in and a pain medication to be administered. They would continue to monitor her. If it didn't start to get better in several hours, they would likely need to do surgery. They also ran a CT scan can concluded that Elizabeth had suffered a concussion, but keeping her awake long enough to figure out how that happened, proved challenging.

A couple hours later, Elizabeth woke up. Before she even opened her eyes, she tried to access her situation. She was pretty sure she was in a hospital bed based on the rough, crinkly sheets beneath her. Her head hurt. The pain in her lower abdomen was still present, but not the sharp stabs of pain that it had been, now just more a dull ache.

She heard a noise from across the room and opened her eyes. Elizabeth barely had a second to take in the man sitting in the corner before extreme dizziness and a wave of nausea flooded her senses. She shot up from the bed, the vomit propelling itself out of her body.

Henry sat in the hospital recliner in the far corner of the room thinking about how awkward it would probably be when she, Elizabeth he reminded himself, woke up. She shifted slightly in the bed and he looked up. He watched her fingers move just a bit, and continued his train of thought about a reasonable explanation for him being there. The truth, even though it was crazy, was the only way to go. She would think him a gentleman or stalker-there wasn't much room in between.

Suddenly Henry was jolted out of his reverie by Elizabeth violently lurching forward, a wild searching look flashing across her eyes. He knew the action that corresponded with that look. Leaping up, he pulled the large tub that was on the hospital table and shoved it under her face before she emptied the contents of her stomach.

Henry was a little out of his element. He wasn't sure what he should be doing. He hit the nurse call button that dangled from the bed. Then he tentatively rubbed circles on her back to soothe her, quickly moving his hand when he accidentally brushed her bare skin where the ties on the hospital gown met. He had blushed, not that Elizabeth noticed. She was preoccupied with how awful she felt. Henry handed Elizabeth a wet cloth to wipe her mouth just as the nurse walked in.

"How are you feeling Miss Adams?"

""Please, call me Elizabeth. And, I feel like death warmed over."

"Okay. I see you have some nausea. It's probably due to the amount of pain meds in your system. I'll try to get you something to calm your stomach. Do you know what happened to your head?"

"My head?" Elizabeth asked, touching the top of her head and then her forehead. "Oh," she sucked in a breath. "That hurts." Trying to collect her thoughts, she said, "I hit my head on the steering wheel when I got here. Good grief, I hope I didn't hit another car."

"I'm sure someone would have reported it if that had happened. Now let me go grab your file and see what all we need to do." The nurse walked out of the room.

Finally, Elizabeth had the opportunity to survey her surroundings. Her eyes fell on Henry. She wrinkled her eyebrows, which caused her to wince. She gingerly touched her forehead. "Ow. How bad does it look? It feels like it looks bad."

Henry grinned at her, "It's not unicorn horn bad."

Elizabeth laughed and simultaneously winced, "Don't make me laugh." She studied him, "I know I've had a terrible day, and I'm really not on my game, but I'm very sure at this point that I don't know who you are."

"Right." Henry said, "I'm Henry McCord." He stepped close enough to shake her hand. He was certainly handsome she thought, then she caught sight of the stitches above his eye and gasped.

"Oh, Dear Lord, please tell me that I didn't hit you." The thought that in her pain, she might have hit someone while she was driving to the hospital was doing nothing to help her already rolling stomach.

"What?" Henry asked in confusion. "No, you didn't hit-" Then he remembered the stitches. He touched them carefully. "No, this is totally the product of a file cabinet drawer gone rogue.."

Elizabeth laughed and squeezed her eyes shut as the pain rolled through her head again. "You need to stop doing that."

"I'm truly sorry. Earlier today, I was in the ER getting this stitched up and when I was getting in my car to leave, I happened to catch a glimpse of you. You had passed out between a couple of cars. I carried you inside." Now comes the tricky part. "I was going to leave, but that didn't seem like the right thing to do. It just seemed-I just thought-that someone should be with you. I just didn't want you to be alone."

Henry stepped back and dropped his head. Yeah, this is definitely going the wrong direction. "So," he said, making eye contact again. "Now that you're awake. I'd be happy to call someone for you, so, um, you don't think you have a creepy stalker hanging around your room. Not that I'm that, I'm not, but you don't know me so you don't know that. Oh wow! I'm going to stop trying to make it better now. Can I call your parents or a friend for you?"

At the mention of her parents, Elizabeth had to physically will herself not to break down in tears, especially in front of this- She tried to put words to the man in front of her. This incredibly handsome, caring and sweet, although very awkward man. As Elizabeth always did, she swallowed those inconvenient emotions and took a deep breath before she spoke. "Thank you Henry. I appreciate it very much. There isn't anyone to call, but I do thank you for waiting. That was a very sweet gesture, and not stalker-like at all. But, I'm sure you have someplace to be going or someone who's waiting for you. I don't want to be keeping you any longer than I already have."

Those eyes. He'd watched them intently since she'd been awake. She had the most beautiful eyes of anyone he'd ever seen before. As he'd been talking to her just now, he had watched them cloud over briefly at the mention of calling someone. Something about it pulled at his heart. He wasn't sure, but something was amiss.

"Okay then. I'm just going home. No special place or person waiting. I don't want to hang around where I'm not needed, and be weirder than I already am. But, if you change your mind, I'm just a phone call away." He stepped over to the sink and pulled a paper towel from the dispenser and a pen from the table. "Here's my number," he said, jotting it down on the towel. "I'm not going anywhere for break either, so really if you need something, call." Leaving the phone number on the table, he waved, "It was nice to meet you Elizabeth." With that he stepped out of the room, sadly thinking that he would likely never see her again.

Elizabeth sighed as the pain from her head just would not subside. At least, she thought, I can't feel the earlier pain. Either the ovary was calming down or the pain meds were working really well. She struggled to reach the edge of the table and pull it to her. Elizabeth was really curious as to what Henry wrote, because she could tell that he'd written more than just a phone number. Picking it up, she smiled and the tears fell from her eyes. It had his name and number and underneath was written, "You never have to be alone."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I started this as a one shot, but by the end, even I wondered where it would go. Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews. I love to hear that others are enjoying my stories. I hope you like this addition!

Chapter 2

The morning sunlight spilled through the crack in the window blinds landing on Elizabeth's face. The sun made her head pound and she rolled over, trying to escape it. However, rolling on her bruised forehead, was equally painful. Still laying in the hospital bed, it was Day 3 of her unintended stay. There was a small part of her that actually wasn't too upset by being there. There were people. Nurses came in every couple of hours to check on her and they made small talk. Meals arrived three times a day. It might have been a welcome experience if she hadn't had the worst headache imaginable and the fact that it was the hospital and she hated hospitals.

Suddenly, she was aware of the fact that she could open her eyes. Yesterday, the swelling had been so bad that it caused her eyes to swell shut. Not being able to open her eyes hadn't been too bad, she reasoned. Her head hurt so badly that she probably wouldn't have opened her eyes even if she could have. But, now she could see and the ruptured cyst appeared to be healed, or at least not painful, so Elizabeth figured that a discharge was in the future. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She hated hospitals, but the thought of going and spending the next several days in the same four walls was equally unappealing.

She reached over to get her glass of water and as she did so, she spotted the note written on the paper towel. Smiling, she turned the note over so she could read it again. That entire experience had been very odd, but she couldn't quite get the picture of him out of her mind. His sandy brown hair, deep hazel eyes, and the wide smile he'd had when he told her that it was nice to have met her. He was cute and seemed like genuinely nice guy, but he surely wouldn't be remotely interested in her after seeing her the way he'd seen her. Passed out, body contorted in pain, throwing up, yeah that about covers everything you don't really want a potential boyfriend to see.

She chuckled to herself and then gasped as her brain throbbed inside her skull. "Dear God, when is this damned headache going to go away?" she muttered.

"Probably not fully for a couple of weeks," the doctor said as he walked in. Elizabeth's face flushed red from embarrassment. She wasn't the type of person to complain in front of other people. She thought it made her look weak. "You've sustained a concussion. That means your brain is bruised and it's going to take a bit to get back to normal. That means no contact sports for a couple months and you'll need to take it easy when you can. Get lots of rest, at least 8 hours of sleep each night and maybe even a nap during the day if you can get one in and eat well. All of that will give your brain time to heal. Now, I see no reason why you need to hang out here, but you'll need someone to keep an eye on you, should you have any problems." He got ready to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway. "Oh, I almost forgot. No driving for 2 weeks. Have a nice day."

"Crap. Now what am I going to do? I wonder if I can call a cab," she muttered to herself.

Just then, the nurse walked in carrying a breakfast tray. "Look what I happened to find. Oh, hey, I see eyeballs today. That's a great sign. The doctor says that we just need to get the discharge paperwork going and we'll get you out of here. Do you want me to call your boyfriend?"

"My what?" Elizabeth asked, her face contorted in confusion, despite the pain it caused. "What makes you think I have a boyfriend?"

"You mean the guy that was here with you the other day isn't your boyfriend? Oh, we just all assumed he was. He called a couple times yesterday to ask how you were doing. He's a cutie. The two of you look good together." With that, she walked out, but ten seconds later was back again, "Who am I calling to get you then?"

"Uh, can you call a cab? My car is here, but the doctor said I can't drive."

"I'm pretty sure I can't do that. The doctor said you needed to be released into someone's care."

"Okay, give me a minute to think about it and I'll let you know." The nurse left the room and Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to make the tears recede. Being alone definitely had its inconvenient moments.

It was very early, but Henry had been up for a while. He was thinking about Elizabeth. He chastised himself for thinking about her so much. He'd called the hospital twice on Saturday to check in on her. Both times she was sleeping and he had told the nurses that he didn't want to wake her. It had actually worked out, because he didn't know what he would say if he were actually talking to her anyway The thoughts in his head didn't give him further encouragement. "Hi. I know you don't know me, but there's something about you that is making me think about you every waking moment (and in his dreams if here were honest with himself). Um, you want to go out some time?"

Henry slapped his hand on the arm of the chair. "What are you thinking? Because someone like her would never go out with someone like you." He got up and went to get ready for Sunday Mass.

Two hours later, Henry was still asking himself what the heck he was thinking, even as he walked down the hospital corridor, flowers in hand. When he rounded the corner by the nurses' station, he swore he heard whispering, but when he looked over, the three nurses just smiled at him. Quietly knocking on the door, he waited until he heard her say, "Come in?" soft and questioning from the other side.

He pushed the door gently, just enough to step in the doorway, "Hi," he said shyly.

"Hi, Henry," she said softly She wasn't sure why, but she could feel the pink come up on her cheeks. "I'm surprised to see you."

Elizabeth was sitting with her legs criss crossed in the middle of the bed wearing a Red Hot Chili Pepper concert tee and a pair of light washed jeans with a hole in one knee. Her blond curls were more than a little disheveled from being bedridden the past few days, but those eyes were still the same brilliant blue. "Um, these are for you." He held out the bundle of flowers as he stepped closer to her.

He grinned as her face lit up. "Wow! Nobody's given me flowers, since" She paused for a second, "Well not for a long time. Thank you." Elizabeth smiled at him, but her eyes held the same cloudy haze that he'd seen before. He physically felt the tug in his heart.

"You look like you feel much better," he said, genuinely.

"My head still hurts, but it's definitely better than yesterday." Elizabeth leaned forward catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror hanging over the sink. The dark bruise ran parallel to her right eyebrow and was about three inches in length. Her eyelid and even down to the top of her cheek bone had faint bruising, although a good makeup job could probably hide that if she could stand to touch her face. "Oh my! If I look better now, I can't imagine how bad I looked the other day."

"You're beautiful," he said under his breath and then blushed furiously when he realized that the thought he'd had on replay since Friday afternoon had actually come out of his mouth. He hoped she hadn't heard it since she seemed to be studying her reflection in the mirror.

Stepping forward and looking at the reflection with her, he asked, "Does the bruise itself hurt?"

"I've recently discovered that I have this habit of touching my forehead when I'm trying to think. That's not really working for me right now." Elizabeth smirked, "So I suppose the answer to your question is yes, it does hurt because I can't quit touching it."

"How much longer do they have to keep you here?" Henry hoped she didn't have to spend too many days cooped up in the hospital on Spring Break.

"Well, I'm working on that. They would let me go now if I had someone to babysit me, but since I don't, they won't let me go."

"So you need a babysitter?" Henry asked.

"Actually I just need someone to spring me out of here so they think I have a babysitter. Then I'll be fine on my own." Henry had already been thinking it, but didn't want to suggest taking her home in case that so too weird. Elizabeth turned and looked at Henry, "Would you be willing to break me out of here?"

"I think I could do that," he grinned at her.

An hour later, he was pulling his car up to the large circle drive in front of the hospital. The nurse had wheeled Elizabeth out and Henry could tell as he put the car in park that she was annoyed with the nurse for insisting on the wheelchair.

Henry got out and walked around the car, opening the door for Elizabeth. Once she was settled, he close the door and got back in the car himself. "Do you need anything out of your car before I leave?"

"No. Wait maybe." She rifled through her purse. "I actually think I dropped my key in the console the other day. Thanks. That was good thinking." Elizabeth smiled and Henry's heart skipped a beat.

Henry was surprised when she directed him to the dorms. "You're staying here?" he asked.

"Umm, Yeah, I live here."

"I just thought they closed the dorms during breaks is all."

"They say that, but no one ever actually comes to see if everyone is gone. No worries."

Henry walked around and opened the car door for her. She protested but he walked her to her room anyway. When she opened the door, he peered in and was immediately saddened at the site. Four plain white walls with a set of bunk beds in one corner and two built in desks that ran along the other wall. It had been a long time since he'd lived in the dorms.

"So what do you do when no one else is around," he asked, leaning in the doorway, hoping the situation was better than it looked.

"I read quite a bit. Why?"

"Well, I don't want to knock your living accommodations, but surely there are less depressing ways to spend your Spring Break."

"I wouldn't call it a luxury suite either, but it's what I've got. Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Pack a few things and come stay with me for the week, or at least a few days until you are back to normal? You aren't very steady on your feet and if you fall, no one will know. And, the bathroom is where, like way down at the other end of the hall. If you get sick again, you'll never make it."

"I don't know that staying with you is a good idea," Elizabeth said. "I'm not sure it's safe."

"It's not any less safe than you being here by yourself with no one knowing it. Besides, if I were going to try anything, I've already had ample opportunity to. And, we've already established that I'm not a stalker!" Henry smiled at her encouragingly.

Elizabeth tried to think about the implications of this, but her head was hurting more and suddenly she just didn't think she could handle being alone, especially for the next several days. "Ok, I'll come with you," she relented. "Let me get a few things."

Henry turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open so Elizabeth could enter. Sitting her purse down on the chair, she laughed. "I can see why you thought my room was a little sparse."

The walls of the living room and kitchen were a deep golden color, which normally she would have loathed, but most of it was covered with tall walnut bookcases, all filled with books. Nearest her was a brown leather recliner with a matching couch sitting adjacent to it. A small dining table sat against the wall between the living room and kitchen, which consisted of a wall of shabby cabinets and a set of lower cabinets with a countertop and raised bar. Opposite her on the far wall were three doors which she guessed might be two bedrooms and a bathroom.

"Please feel free to have a seat," Henry said. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No thanks. I'm fine," Elizabeth said as she sat down at the end of the couch. Looking at the end table, she saw a stack of books. She looked up at him in surprise. "You're a student at UVA?"

"Yes. Is that shocking?"

"Not exactly. I've just never seen you around and you seem more-more, I don't know, maybe established. Most college kids don't live like this."

"Like what?"

"Like in a two bedroom apartment with real furniture and thousands of books."

"Oh, well maybe. I haven't lived on campus since my freshman year. I happened to meet the guy who owned these apartments. He was thinking of selling them because he had to move. We ended up striking a deal where I get to live here for free. In exchange, I take care of the place for him so he can keep the property even though he lives in Florida now." Henry explained. "My scholarships pay for school and with my allowance for living expenses, I try to buy one nice thing for the apartment each semester, then I save the rest."

"Wow! That's pretty ingenious, but doesn't managing an apartment complex take a lot of your time?"

"Not usually. There are other people that take care of renting the apartments out and collecting money. I just make sure that broken things get fixed. It just entails calling the repairmen in a timely fashion and then checking back to make sure they did their job."

"So how old are you?"

"I'm going to be 22 in a couple months. You?"

"I just turned 20 last week. I'm a sophomore Almost 22, that makes you a senior then?"

"Yeah, I graduate in a couple months." Walking around the end of the bar, he could still see Elizabeth. "You have to be starving. How about I make us a late lunch?"

"I'm not terribly hungry. But feel free to make yourself something." Elizabeth got up and moved across the room and sat on a barstool watching him. He pulled some chicken out of the refrigerator, seasoned it and put it in the skillet that he had turned on. He turned back to the refrigerator as Elizabeth watched.

"So, what are your after graduation plans?" she wanted to know.

Standing back straight again, he had several vegetables in his arms. He unceremoniously dropped them all on the counter. "I'm in ROTC, so after graduation, I'll be enlisting full time in the Marines."

"That's cool. What's your training area or focus or whatever it's called?"

Henry reached over and turned the chicken over, then continued to dice a cucumber. "They do testing along with your preference survey, but I'd like to go into aviation." Pushing the cucumber to the side, he picked up a carrot and peeled it before slicing it into thin coins.

"Ooo, like Top Gun?" she asked,

"Something like that, probably a lot less Hollywood though."

"That's hot!" Elizabeth said without thinking. Henry's eyes shot up to look at her and when Elizabeth realized what she'd said, she stumbled over herself trying to come up with something to say that would make it better, unsuccessfully. "Oh hell! Quite frankly, you in one of those flight suits walking down the tarmac climbing into a fight jet, well, that is hot!"

Henry laughed good naturedly, "Well at least I have something to aspire to. Hot doesn't typically describe anything related to me other than temperature." He looked at her and smiled. They were getting along better than he'd hoped. Removing the chicken from the stove, he asked, "Do you always go by Elizabeth?"

"When I was younger, people called me Lizzie, then in high school it was a mix of people who called me both. When I came to college, I chose Elizabeth."

"I like Elizabeth. It's an important sounding name. The name of someone who will do important things." She shrugged, unsure of that statement.

Finishing up with the vegetables, he took out two plates and put a salad together with the chicken on top. "I've got ranch and Italian-either one appeal to you?"

"Let's go with Italian."

"Excellent choice m'lady," he said as he handed her the bottle of salad dressing.

Giggling, she said, "You are a dork, you know that?"

"I'm fully aware of my level of dorkiness. I hope that someday, someone will find it endearing." he grinned at her.

They ate in silence. It wasn't until Elizabeth took the first bite that she realized how hungry she really was. Henry was an excellent cook. Not that salad was hard. She could cut up vegetables, but the chicken was really good too and Elizabeth knew that was beyond her skill level. She finished her salad and sat back. It was a little after 2 in the afternoon and the day was taking its toll on her. Her head was once again pounding. She closed her eyes.

Henry noticed immediately. "Hold on a second. Let me get the extra room ready for you.'" He walked into the spare bedroom and moved a couple boxes from the bed and set them in the corner. Closing the blinds and then fluffing the pillows, he pulled back the covers. He thought the room looked ok. On his way out of the room, he pulled a crocheted afghan his mother had made and threw it across the end of the bed in case Elizabeth got cold. As he walked back toward the table, he said, "Okay, how about you lay down for a while? A nap would do you good."

By the time he made it close enough to see Elizabeth, he could tell she'd already fallen asleep. She had her arms crossed on the table, her head very carefully laid so that she didn't put pressure on her bruise. Henry grinned. Elizabeth was awfully cute. He knew she was more than that, but better to try to not have those thoughts.

"Hey, Elizabeth, time for you to lay down." He nudged her a bit and realized that she was seriously out. "Must be the pain medicine," he thought. Carefully, he picked her up from her spot at the table and carried her to bed. She barely stirred and definitely didn't come close to waking up when he laid her down. Quickly he removed her shoes and covered her up. He started to leave the room, but turned back to look at her for a moment more. He hoped that one day she might like him as much as he already liked her.


	3. Chapter 3

Welcome to the latest installment of "Real Life Procrastination." Between crafting this and love letters for Evolution, my real life duties have been neglected. I rationalize this by noting that i work with small children. They aren't going to notice that I've worn the same clothes three days in a row. Oh well, I hope this is worth my lack of laundry doing. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

The smell of bacon overwhelmed her senses as Elizabeth began to stir. She smiled, living in the Saturday morning memories of her childhood. Her mom and dad were downstairs making a big breakfast. She would come running downstairs and she, her parents and brother, Will, would all sit together and make plans for the weekend. Complete happiness filled Elizabeth. Then she shifted in the bed and realized that she was fully clothed. It only took a split second to remember that her parents were dead, Will was off living his life, and she was alone.

Opening her eyes, Elizabeth furrowed her brow as she glanced around the unfamiliar room. The blinds were tightly closed, but the light that broke through around the edges gave a soft glow to the room. Pulling the covers back, she sat up. Looking down and seeing her clothes, everything came back to her. She still had a headache, but it was so much better than before. The pain from her cyst had completely subsided. Gingerly, she touched her forehead. It seemed like the swelling wasn't as bad either.

After assessing her physical condition, she thought about the rest of her situation. Henry. He was an anomaly. He didn't even know her and he'd been nothing but super sweet and caring. It actually made Elizabeth uncomfortable. Most of the time, people didn't notice her at all. Henry was the exact opposite. It was almost like he sought her out. There were numerous times he could have walked away and it would have been completely appropriate, in fact, she expected it. Yet, here she was, in his apartment with him cooking bacon. No. That's not how things worked. No one as sweet, and handsome, and charming in his own goofy way would want to be with her. She had made her choice. She chose not to go with her parents they day they died. She should've been there. If she had been, she might have died too, or she would have been with Will and they would have some connection now. But, as it was, she didn't go and now she was alone, She had been since that day more than 6 years ago.

Wiping the tears collecting at the rims of her eyes, Elizabeth took a deep breath."Today will probably be it," she murmured to herself. "I'll be better and he'll drop me off at the dorm and, yes, that will most definitely be the end of it."

Elizabeth opened the door slowly and quietly walked into the living room. Henry was humming to himself as he flipped pancakes. She watched him for a second. He was _very_ nice looking and had been so kind to her. Unintentionally, Elizabeth's stomach fluttered. "Hi," she said softly.

Looking up, Henry smiled widely at her. "Good morning, sleepyhead" he said. "I hope pancakes and bacon are okay. I've been wanting pancakes for a while now, but I don't like to make them unless I have someone to help me eat them." He smiled again, this time almost like he was embarrassed at his words.

"I like pancakes, I haven't had them for quite a while either." As soon as the statement left her mouth, she tried to stop her brain from going back to those Saturday morning family breakfasts, to no avail.

Henry watched her and noticed the shift in her eyes once again. He waited a few seconds to allow her to go wherever it was that she went in her mind. It was almost a split second change and she was back, "What time is it anyway? How long did I sleep?"

"It's almost 9, so that makes it right around 19 hours. Impressive!" he was teasing and she laughed along with him. "I figured you'd been through a lot, so you needed the sleep. How do you feel?"

"I actually feel good for the most part. I still have a headache, but it seems to be getting less each day."

"Breakfast is ready. Take whatever you want."

Elizabeth walked over to the bar and peered over onto the counter below. There was a plate of bacon, a tall stack of pancakes and a bowl of cut up fruit. There was a pot of coffee made on the back counter also. "This looks great, thanks."

"It's no problem. I like cooking, but some things don't make very good leftovers, so I don't make them often. Oh, there's milk and juice in the fridge if you prefer that." He handed her a plate as she came around the end of the bar to join him. He stabbed three pancakes and a couple pieces of bacon and set his plate up on the bar.

Henry made a move to slide behind Elizabeth to walk around to the table. At the same time, Elizabeth turned to reach in the refrigerator for a glass of juice. Henry stopped her movement by instinctively putting his hand up. Now his hand rested on her waist and they were standing chest to chest. They stared at each other for several seconds before Henry found his voice and pulled his hand back. "Sorry. I was just walking behind you. I should've waited."

Elizabeth, reeling from Henry's hot breath fanning down on her face as he spoke and the warm place on her side where she still felt his hand, finally responded, "Oh, it's fine. I should've looked where I was going." She opened the refrigerator door to grab the carton of juice, thankful for the burst of cold air, hoping that it would calm her stomach that was flipping uncontrollably on the inside of her body.

They sat across from each other at the table making awkward small talk, still feeling weird about the previous incident. Henry said, "I hope it's ok with you, I have to work at my work study job from 11-1."

She looked up, feeling the full force of what she thought would happen, hit her, and she cut him off before he could finish, "Oh, yeah, sure, I'll get my things packed up. I can just walk back to my room. It's not far." She started to stand.

"What? What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving," she said, hoping that he wouldn't make a big deal about it.

"Before you go, can I finish what I was going to say?"

"I guess so," she begrudgingly agreed.

"I'm going to try this again. I have my work study job from 11-1. Do you think you'll be okay by yourself while I'm gone? If you want, I can pick up a pizza on my way back. And maybe a movie?" He looked at her. "Now I'm done." Henry gestures to her indicating that she could now respond.

"That's really what you were going to say?" Elizabeth was definitely not on even footing here. She wasn't sure what to say. She had obviously misjudged the situation.

"Mostly. I added the part about the movie just now hoping that would be extra enticement for you to stay. Listen, if you really want to go, that's fine. But, I don't want you to go because you think I'm throwing you out. That's not the case all." Henry took a deep breath and decided to throw caution to the wind. "If we ever get past concussions and assumptions, and me being general awkward, we might find that we get along pretty well."

She flopped back down on the chair. "I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I just don't want to be a bother."

"I promise you're not a bother," Henry said, his sincerity evident. "I invited you for all of break. Really, I'm not rescinding the offer."

"As long as you're sure. This is much better than the dorms and I very much appreciate your hospitality."

"Okay, so back to the original question. Are you going to be okay while I go to work?"

"Sure. I'll be okay. It's just for a couple hours anyway. Is it okay if I shower?"

"Of course, and what kind of pizza do you like? I don't care other than no green pepper. If I eat those, I'll be burping peppers the rest of the day and that's gross." Elizabeth looked at Henry and followed with, "That was probably too much information, wasn't it? Sorry."

Henry laughed, "No green peppers. Got it! I'll see you in a bit." Henry turned the lock on the door and then pulled it shut behind him.

Elizabeth walked back over to the kitchen and grabbed another pancake and slice of bacon. She ate it standing at the bar, thinking about what she would do while Henry was gone. He was a pretty trusting person. She doubted that she would leave someone she barely knew in her apartment alone. It wasn't like she was untrustworthy, but Henry didn't know that.

Elizabeth cleaned up the dishes and put the leftover pancakes and bacon into some containers. Henry might not pancakes as leftovers, but she wouldn't have a problem eating them.

She picked up her bag and carried it to the bedroom. Pulling out a polo shirt and a pair of khakis, Elizabeth took her toiletries bag and headed to the bathroom. The shower was life changing Elizabeth decided as she walked out of the bathroom. It had been a few days and she felt so much better.

Not seeing a hair dryer, Elizabeth had just towel dried her hair and combed it out with her fingers. Looking at the clock, it was only noon. Henry probably wouldn't be back for another hour and a half.

Elizabeth was restless, she meandered around the apartment, stepping out onto the small balcony off of the kitchen. She wasn't surprised when she found a nice barbecue grill along with a couple lounge chairs, Henry seemed like a guy who would do without until he could buy something nice. She liked that.

Stepping back inside, she was drawn to the bookcase nearest her. Elizabeth started reading the titles in Henry's extensive collection. She was amazed at the number of religious books the man owned: Augustine, Thomas More, Aquinas, and Fulton Sheen. She pulled out the copy of Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. "I bet that's an interesting read," she said aloud. Then her eyes settled on a particular book. She removed it and reread the title "The Story of a Soul" by Thérèse of Lisieux. After reading the flap inside the dust jacket, she tucked it under her arm and continued on. Several shelves were dedicated to various periods in history and what she would call classic titles like "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Canterbury Tales." Elizabeth laughed out loud when she came upon a couple bound volumes of Beetle Bailey. There was also a shelf of cookbooks. Elizabeth smiled. Henry was very well read and had a number of interests. If she was in the market, he would be perfect. She frowned, but she was most certainly not in the market, not by a long shot.

Elizabeth was sitting at the table when she heard the key turn in the lock. She stood to set the plates out and she placed a couple sodas on the table. When he walked in the door, she was ready to take the pizza box from him. "So, how was work?"

Henry stopped in the doorway, unable to make his feet move further inside. He had known from the first time he saw her that Elizabeth was pretty, but now she was dressed up, her hair fixed and she wore a small amount of expertly applied makeup, which covered the bruise. He could still faintly see it because he knew it was there. Anyone else who saw her, likely wouldn't think twice. He swallowed the lump in his throat. She was gorgeous. It took everything he had to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. Elizabeth turned around. "What's wrong?"

Henry swallowed again. "N-nothing. Uh, work was fine. No stitches today, although I think 15 sixty year old women came to check on my well being. Oh, and we have cookies, compliments of Mrs. Bemboom in the Business Office. She thought I might need a pick me up." Talking helped divert Henry's attention enough that he was able to walk through the door and shut it. He put his backpack on the chair and pulled out a ziplock bag of cookies and handed them to Elizabeth.

"Are those white chocolate macadamia nut? Man, you must rate pretty high to get fancy cookies like these!" Elizabeth was thoroughly excited.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome to be the poster boy for the Grandmothers' Club. It's a level of cool that not many attain, or even aspire to."

Elizabeth laughed uncontrollably. Henry was fascinated by the sound. It was bubbly and full of joy. Her eyes sparkled when she laughed. Henry felt his insides turn to mush.

As she finally settled down, she asked, "Are you ready to eat?"

"Sure." He glanced toward the sink. "Hey, thanks for cleaning up the kitchen this morning. I left quite a mess."

"It was no problem. You were nice enough to cook for me." They both took a couple slices of pizza and sat down. Henry found himself staring again. Elizabeth caught him and immediately pulled the napkin to her mouth. "Do I have sauce all over my face or something?"

Henry smiled, "I just can't get over it."

"Can't get over what?" She wrinkled her nose.

"How i ended up with someone as smart and beautiful as you eating lunch with me."

Elizabeth blushed, "That's not the case. You of all people would know that I'm not beautiful."

Inwardly, Henry cursed himself for opening his mouth. If he answered honestly, he wasn't going to be able to make that comment come off as an off handed compliment. No, it would surely seem forward and make him looked like a shallow creep. Great! This is why he would forever be single. The downside was that if he said nothing he still looked like a shallow creep. He decided to at least a go with the compliment since that was the truth.

"I thought you were pretty the moment I first saw you. But it wasn't until I saw your eyes that I knew just how beautiful you were."

"Henry, you are super sweet for saying that, but that isn't how I feel most of the time."

"I know. That doesn't change the fact that you are. Seems like you just need more people in your life to remind you."

Elizabeth thought of the days when she was a child and her parents told her all of the time how special she was, how smart she was and how pretty she was. It had been a long time since she heard she was same and beautiful.

Henry watched as her eyes clouded over again. When they cleared, Henry spoke. "Since I'm already pushing the envelope, I'm going to go ahead and ask. What are you thinking about when your eyes change like that?"

Elizabeth scoffed at the question, "What do you mean?"

"There have been several times that we are talking and one of us will say something and you stop, sometimes only for a second or two. Your eyes change completely and I know you go somewhere else in your head. I'm guessing that whatever it is bothers you because you always get quiet. I've tried to figure out what it is. But I don't see a connection between conversations. If you tell me, I can try not to say whatever it is that is upsetting."

"It's not something I talk about. Uh, if you don't mind, my head is hurting. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit." With that, she rose from the table and went to the bedroom and quietly closed the door.

"Yep. Screwed that one up. There goes any possibility of a relationship," Henry mumbled under his breath as he took the dishes to the sink and tossed the pizza box in the fridge. It might be a long week he thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I meant to get this posted this morning and I ran out of time. Hope you like this one. I've been wanting to write a certain part of this for a while now. As always, let me know what you think. I think we're getting close to the end-maybe another couple of chapters since I'm terribly long-winded.

Chapter 4

Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed, trying to pull herself together. There were so many out of control things to deal with right now. Elizabeth was suddenly very uncomfortable with the prospect of being alone. It wasn't like she'd ever enjoyed it before, but was resigned to it. Now, the thought of living in solitude again was completely depressing and scary. She hadn't thought of her parents so often since the months right after they died. Now every time she turned around, memories of them were flooding her thoughts.

Then there was Henry. He was at the center of all of it. He was so nice and noticed her. He made her feel special. Henry said such sweet things, it made her think of her past, back when things were good. It made her remember her parents. He made her feel wanted and visible. Even though she'd tried to downplay it. Henry's affect on her was real, and while it was not completely unwelcome, it was definitely unsettling. The more she thought about it, if she were honest with herself, it was downright terrifying.

Flopping back on the bed, she stared at the ceiling. Elizabeth felt awful that Henry was in the other room blaming himself for something that was her problem. She didn't know how to address it without addressing it. She knew she couldn't tell him everything. She wasn't ready for that. Besides, she reasoned, he would probably be tired of her by the end of the week and there was no sense in dumping her emotional turmoil in his lap. She definitely didn't want Henry hanging around because he pitied her.

Still, she couldn't let Henry think that he was the cause of her problems. That wasn't fair. He had been exceptionally good to her and she didn't want to cause him pain. She grimaced at the thought. "I'm good at that, aren't I?" she murmured and rolled her eyes. She stood and walked to the door. With her hand on the knob, she rested her head on the door Elizabeth's heart held a flicker of hope that whatever this thing was with Henry could turn into more and her mind desperately tried to extinguish it to protect her. The battle raging within her was real, but as she stood there, Elizabeth made up her mind to go and talk to Henry. Whatever her problems were had nothing to do with him and he needed to know that.

Henry sat back on the couch. Running his hands through his hair, he sighed heavily. He didn't have a Plan B. He'd pushed too hard. It wasn't like they were close friends, or even knew each other well. He'd only met her 3 days ago. "Good grief. I'm such a jerk," he mumbled to himself. "It's not any of my business." _But you'd like it to be._ Leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees, Henry buried his head in his hands and prayed. _Father, guide me to do what is right in this situation. I know there is something going on with Elizabeth and I don't need to know what it is, but I feel like we're walking on eggshells around it. Just help me to support her and if it's not me that is supposed to be there, please make sure someone is. It seems like she's been closed off from other people far too long. I can feel it. I ask this in Your name, Amen._

Elizabeth turned the doorknob and quietly stepped into the room. The image of Henry sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands pained her. She had done this. She was an expert at hurting people. Her mind told her to retreat back to the bedroom and just leave it alone, but her heart wouldn't allow it. "Henry," Elizabeth called softly.

He jumped from the couch, spinning around. "Elizabeth! Hey, um, I'm sorry about-"

"No, Henry, please don't." Elizabeth approached him. "Please sit down." He sat back down on the couch and she sat on the edge of the recliner facing him. "Look, this entire situation is my fault. You have been fabulous and I'm just all messed up in my head. You are right. I do think about things and they do bother me, but that isn't something I've ever shared, and honestly, I have no plans to. Please just know that it has nothing to do with you. You are great, too great to be around me, but here we are, at least for a few more days until break is over-"

Henry cut her off then, "You don't need to tell me anything, but don't think I'm biding my time until I can get rid of you. It's completely the opposite. I want to get to know you better. I want to spend more time with you." Henry leaned forward, closer to her.

Elizabeth scooted back in the chair, turning her head away from Henry. "That's not a good idea. You don't want to get to know me. I just end up hurting people."

"That could happen, but I'm willing to take that chance." Henry sighed. "Would you look at me?" Slowly, Elizabeth turned her head and shifted her eyes just enough that she was looking at Henry. "Look. I like you. I don't know if I like you-like you or just like you, but I want the opportunity to find out. And, I'm guessing you think I"m okay or you would have left by now."

"You're much more than okay." Elizabeth said shyly, the corners of her mouth turning up in a small smile.

"Great!" Henry said slapping his knees. "We actually had a conversation that didn't end up being completely weird. I think we're making good progress."

Suddenly, she fully turned and looked at Henry. "How outdoorsy are you?"

He looked at Elizabeth skeptically. "Somewhat. I've been camping and hiking and I went skeet shooting once."

"How do you feel about fishing?"

"Never been, but I'm not opposed to it."

Elizabeth grinned at Henry. "Go change into some old clothes. I'm taking you fishing."

Henry shrugged and smiled back, "Okay, but don't we need equipment like poles and stuff?"

"Don't worry about it. I gotcha covered," she winked at him and his heart skipped a beat as he walked into the bedroom to change.

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in the middle of Elizabeth's dorm room. Opening a closet door, she pulled out two poles and handed them to Henry. "Watch out for the hooks on the lures," she said and then knelt down digging out a tackle box and fishing vest from underneath a few other odds and ends. "There we go." She pulled a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the bottom of a drawer and then glanced around the room.

Henry caught on immediately. "How about I take these down and you can meet me with the other things?"

"Sure," she said, thankful that he realized she still needed to change. Just a few minutes later, she was bounding down the stairs and out the door of the building. Henry was bent over the open trunk putting the poles in. He popped up when the door to the dorm slammed shut.

Elizabeth watched as Henry did a double take and a goofy grin spread across his face. She quickly looked away as her stomach did that fluttery thing that seemed to always be happening now that she was spending time with Henry.

Henry was putting the poles in the trunk to that they didn't get bent when he heard the building door slam shut. Standing up, he looked at her and lost his breath. She bounced toward him wearing her hair pulled back into low pigtails, a soft pink t-shirt with the hem hitting right at the top of her jeans. Every few steps it pulled up just a little showing the smallest bit of her stomach. Henry swallowed hard. Her jeans hugged her slim waist, hips and thighs before widening out. He'd seen similar outfits on countless numbers of other girls around campus, and he'd never given them a second look. It certainly wasn't the outfit, it was the woman in the outfit that was causing his goofy smile and making him shift uneasily in his spot.

Setting the tackle box in the trunk and placing her vest on top, she looked at Henry,, who still hadn't been able to take a breath. "Are you okay?" she asked. "If you don't really want to go," she started.

"N-no, no. that's not it at all," Henry stammered. "It's just, I-you're, uh, nevermind. I'm being ridiculous. Come on." Henry shut the trunk lid and walked around with Elizabeth to open the door for her. After closing her door, he walked around the back of the car and ran his hands through his hair, _For goodness sakes, could you try not to be a complete idiot on this escapade._ Climbing into the driver's seat, he looked at Elizabeth and said, "Okay. Where to?"

Elizabeth directed Henry to a public lake about 15 miles outside of Charlottesville. Parking in the shade, they got out and retrieved the gear from the trunk. Slipping her vest on, she looked at Henry. "Are you ready for this little adventure?"

"Maybe not ready, but certainly willing," Henry looked at her and continued, "Are you going to make fun of me if I'm really bad?"

Elizabeth laughed, "I might. Depends on how bad you are." Seeing his concerned look, she added, "But, I'm an excellent teacher, so you should be fine." Leading him down a well worn path, they walked about a hundred yards through a wooded area where the path opened up to a large graveled area next to a slow flowing river.

"This is beautiful," Henry murmured as he stepped alongside her.

Turning, she grinned at him. "It is one of my favorite places." She turned back to watch the river flow over the rocks and Henry was fighting the urge to reach out and lace his fingers in hers. He looked down to find that their hands were just a couple of inches apart, it wouldn't be that hard to take her hand in his. Henry's thoughts were interrupted when she stepped away and knelt down by the tackle box.

"Can you hand me see the red pole?' she asked. Henry picked it up and started to give it to her. "You hold it and let me have the end. I'm going to change the lure." With nimble fingers, she swiftly unhooked the lure from the pole and pulled a pair of retractable clippers from her vest, snipped the fishing line and tossed a blue fish looking lure into the top of the tackle box. Humming to herself, she lifted and expandable tray and exposed two more compartments filled with various types of lures. Henry was amazed. He had no idea that one person could have so much fishing stuff. She sifted through a couple of the larger compartments until she pulled a yellow, fluffy, feather-like lure out. "This should do it," she said Elizabeth slipped the fishing line through the hole in the end of the lure and deftly wrapped the fishing line around itself several times and somehow looped it through and pulled it tight with her teeth. Clipping the stray piece of line from the lure, she let go of the line. Looking up at him, she smiled. "You're all set."

Henry was having a hard time holding himself together. He had no idea that changing a fishing lure could in any way be deemed sexy, but Elizabeth had just managed to do it

He just stood there slack-jawed, the pole loosely in his grasp. "Let's get started." Elizabeth stood up and turned to him. "Henry, are you ok?"

"Umm yeah, sure. What do I need to do?" Elizabeth led him to the water's edge.

"Throwing the lure out into the water is called casting. You want to get it close to the middle of the river. The water is deeper there." Push this button and hold it. Then it bring the pole back and whip it forward. As you go forward, let go of the button when you have the greatest forward momentum. Like this." Elizabeth talked through it again as she casted, releasing the button at just the right time and the lure went sailing smoothly into the middle of the river. She reeled the line back in. "Okay, your turn."

Henry stepped up. He'd watched closely and it didn't look too difficult. "Okay," he said, taking the pole from Elizabeth. "Push the button and hold it, pull it back, forward and release." The lure landed about six feet in front of him just at the edge of the water. "What?" Henry was shocked.

"It's harder than it looks." Elizabeth tried hard not to laugh at Henry's expression. "The trick is to release at just the right time. It will definitely take a few tries to get the hang of it. Oh, and some people cast over their shoulder. I'm an out to the side kind of girl, but over your shoulder might be more comfortable for you. I'll let you practice. Sometimes you have to find your own groove."

She stepped to the side and grabbed her pole. Quickly changing the lure, she was ready in minutes. Henry was still struggling. Elizabeth casted a few times, watching Henry out of the corner of her eye. She could tell he was getting frustrated. "Hey, let's try something else," she said walking up to him.

"I don't consider myself to be a great outdoorsman, but not being able to throw a line into the water is just plain humiliating." Henry lamented.

"It's really fine. We aren't going to talk about how long it took me to learn and my brother never really did." Elizabeth had been going to say more, but she was so shocked by the fact that she just let it slip that she had a brother, she just stopped, hoping Henry wouldn't ask.

Henry noticed. Of course he noticed that Elizabeth just said she had a brother. He had noted that she'd never mentioned her family and he thought that was at the center of her story, but he had learned his lesson. He wasn't going to push. If she wanted to talk about it, she would.

"Ok, alternative casting lesson. Uh-" Elizabeth looked around. "We need to move here."

Henry wrinkled his nose at her. "Why?"

"So I can be taller." she said simply. "Come here." Henry stepped closer, still facing her with his back to the water. "You need to come closer and turn around. More. More"

Henry looked over his shoulder. "If I scoot back any more, I'm going to run into you."

"Yes. That's my plan."

Henry gave her a look. "Wouldn't it have just been easier to say, 'Come stand close to me?'"

Elizabeth looked a little sheepish. "Maybe?" Then she giggled, "Come stand close to me."

When Henry got close enough, Elizabeth wrapped her arm around his middle and pulled him flush to her chest. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she whispered, "Now, a lot of this is about feeling, so I want you to feel what I'm doing."

 _That won't be a problem._ Henry thought as he tried to regulate his breathing.

"Cover my hand with yours. Lightly so you aren't restricting my movement. Now I'm going to cast and I want you to see when I release the button. M'kay?"

"Okay," Henry said shakily. Henry was feeling a lot of things, but when to release the button was far down on the list. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Focus," she said. "Ready?" She pulled her arm back, held it for a second and then whipped it forward, and released. The line went sailing into the river. "Reel it back in." Henry did as he was told. He stepped away, reeled the line in and stepped back into her. She stretched her hand out over his toned abs, something that wasn't lost on either of them. "Let's do it again. This time close your eyes." She pulled back, whipped it forward and let it sail.

When he reeled it back in, he said, "Switch spots." Keeping his hand on the the rod, she laid hers on top. He pushed the button and pulled back, paused, closed his eyes, forward and release. Opening his eyes, he watched the line land just shy of the middle of the river.

"Yes," he head Elizabeth whisper in his ear and he felt the smile creep up on her lips, causing his to do the same.

He covered her hand that rested on his abs, and squeezed it. "Thank you," he murmured. Then he stepped away, turned and grinned, "Think I can do it all by myself?"

"Let's see it," she smiled back.

He reeled his line in and cast it out perfectly again. Henry turned back to look at Elizabeth. "I have an excellent teacher."

She laughed, and stepping back to her spot, she picked up her rod and cast her line into the water. They spent most of the rest of the afternoon in silence. Elizabeth caught a small fish, which she removed from the hook and tossed back in the water. Henry got really good at casting, only missing his target a few times.

Deciding that it was getting a little chilly once the sun started to drop in the sky, they packed up and headed to the car. Henry put the poles in and Elizabeth set the other things in next to them. Closing the lid, they both stood there at the back of the car. Henry spoke, "This was a really good idea. I had a lot of fun."

"Me too. Thanks for going out on a limb and trying something new."

"I feel like going out on a limb might become the new norm." Henry mused.

"Yeah. Lots of new stuff for me too." Elizabeth stared at the ground.

"It's getting late. Do you want to stop and get something to eat on the way back?"

"Sure. That sounds like a good idea." Henry led the way to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. Maybe this week wasn't going to be so long after all.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter was difficult to write. I hope you find that it's enjoyable.

Chapter 5

Elizabeth rolled out of bed Thursday morning, excited to find out what the day would bring. Tuesday, she and Henry had gone to the park and played disc golf, a first for both of them. They were both terrible, but had a great time laughing at how badly the other played. On Wednesday, they walked around the downtown area, going into little shops and they stopped at the ice cream parlor for a sundae to share. Both evenings were filled with lively conversation about every topic imaginable, except Elizabeth's family, which was noticeably absent, but Henry didn't ask.

Stepping out into the living room, she found it dark. Looking at the wall clock, she saw that it was after 8. It seemed unlikely that Henry would still be asleep. She frowned. She went into the bathroom and saw the note taped to the mirror. "Had to go to work this morning. Be back around 11. Figure out something for us to do." Smiling, she jumped in the shower and thought about what they could do.

By the time Henry got back to the apartment, Elizabeth was all ready to go. He walked in find her sitting on the couch with a big smile "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning to you too! You look chipper!" Henry laughed.

"What do you think about a picnic?" she asked.

""That would be nice. Do I need to change?" Elizabeth surveyed him. "It's supposed to get warm. You may want shorts instead, but i like your shirt."

"Shorts it is," Henry said, disappearing into the bedroom. Returning a couple minutes later, he asked, "Do we need to get food together?"

"Nope. All taken care of. I made sandwiches, and put chips and a package of cookies in the bag. We just might stop and get a drink on the way." Henry gave her a thumbs up and Elizabeth gestured to the paper bag sitting on the table. "That's it."

Henry picked up the bag and opened the door. She walked through with a blanket under her arm and he followed her down the stairs to the parking lot. She looked good. He swallowed hard and attempted to divert his thoughts elsewhere. As he was putting the bag of food in the car, he made up his mind that today he was going to tell her that he liked her,more than just as a friend. He wanted to date her.

Elizabeth had been feeling a little uneasy since getting into the car with Henry. He was withdrawn and while he was talking, he didn't seem as interested as he had been. She wondered if she had done something to upset him. Then she thought about the fact that Spring Break was coming to an end. Maybe he was just trying to move back from her. She decided that she would see how the day went before saying something. Elizabeth was annoyed with herself though because for all of her attempts to maintain emotional distance, she had failed miserably. She really liked Henry, maybe even like-liked him. She smiled to herself. That term was so ridiculous, and yet, for this purpose, it worked quite well

She took him to a small park on the other side of town, a place he'd never been. Spreading the blanket under a tree, Henry stepped back and let Elizabeth set the food out. She sat on the blanket and patted the spot next to her. "Sit down."

Henry sat and she handed him a paper plate with a sandwich on it. "Chips?" she asked, handing him the bag.

He smiled, "Sure."

The two sat together and ate in silence. Elizabeth turned to Henry. "You're quiet. Is something bothering you?"

"I've got something on my mind."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"I'm a little nervous. You see," Henry set his plate down. "I like you Elizabeth. A lot." Henry took a deep breath. "I want to see you past this week. Not just see you here and there. I want to date you."

"Oh." She dropped her head. Henry's heart fell.

"I can understand if you don't feel the same way. That's ok."

Elizabeth's head snapped up. " No. Wait Henry. That's not it. Not it at all. I just-I just don't think I can put you through the pain that I will cause you. I like you too much to do that to you."

"Help me out a little bit, Elizabeth. What does that even mean? Anytime two people get in some kind of relationship, they both take the chance that someone will get hurt. That's not something that's specific to you."

"It's different with me." She looked around while she thought about her situation. "You need to know to understand."

"You'd need to tell me so I know," he said softly.

"Let's put this stuff away and take a walk," she said, changing the subject.

Henry left Elizabeth sitting on the ground under the tree while he put the bag and blanket back in the car. Seeing the box of tissues on the floorboard, he pulled a few out and stuffed them in his pocket, just in the off chance that she chose to open up to him. He knew how guarded she was though. He wasn't holding out much hope.

Elizabeth watched Henry walk up the small slope to the car. He had just told her that he liked her and wanted to see her after this week. Her heart was leaping and her brain was trying to squelch with it memories of the disappointed look in her mother's face before they left that day, of her broken relationship with her brother, of her many roommates that she drove away. How could she make him understand without rehashing all of it? Elizabeth shook her head. Her brain was already hammering out escape plans, while her heart was begging her to stay and tell him her story.

Standing in front of Elizabeth, Henry could see that she was lost in her thoughts. He bent down in one knee if front of her. "Hey, are your ready?" he asked, brushing over her knuckles with his thumb. Her eyes refocused and he stood, pulling her to her feet. "Ready to take that walk?"

Elizabeth was lost in her internal debate when she felt Henry touch her hand. Looking down, she watched as he tenderly held her hand in his. Her heart's argument won this debate. She would tell him her story and see if he still wanted to stay around. Then she would know that she had given it a fair chance.

As they started walking on a gravel path through a large flower garden, Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the new growth sprouting out of last year's dead foliage. She felt like that was metaphoric of her life. She hoped that the new blooms would have a chance to grow.

"Henry," Elizabeth turned to look at him, suddenly realizing that she she had no idea what she was going to say. "I'm about to ramble on because I've never thought about how to say any of this out loud, so please bear with me." Henry said nothing. He only nodded, slipping his fingers through hers for the first time. Looking down, she smiled as she felt the warmth transfer from him to her.

"Let's try to go with the short story. Um, okay, one day, when I had just turned 14, I had an argument with my mom. I wanted to go to the movies with friends, but she told me no for some reason that I can't even remember now. But, later that day she popped into my room inviting me to go get milkshakes with her, my dad and my younger brother. I was studying and still annoyed from what had happened earlier. I was sort of hateful and acted like there was no way I could take a break. So they left without me. On the way, there was a wreck and both my mom and dad died."

Henry let out a deep sigh and squeezed her hand. Wow. _That answered a lot of the questions I had._

When he didn't speak, Elizabeth continued. "My brother was fine, but he had been there and he just dealt with everything differently. My mom's parents took us in. My brother just adjusted better, so they kept him and sent me to boarding school because-" Elizabeth stopped and looked at Henry with tears in her eyes. "Well, I don't really know why exactly. Maybe I was too sad. Maybe I looked too much like her. Maybe they knew how terrible I had been to their daughter right before she died. Maybe they thought I should have died too." She trailed off in her thoughts, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

Bringing herself back to the conversation at hand, Elizabeth continued. "So, Will and I hardly ever talk. My grandparents both died a few years ago, within a few months of each other. I'm not even sure how. Will never told me. I read Grandma's obituary in the paper accidentally. I just happened upon it when I was looking for something else. It said that Grandpa preceded her in death."

Henry was so stunned by the calmness with which Elizabeth was able to talk about such horrible events, he thought that might actually be sadder than the events themselves.

"So I went through high school at a boarding school. I've had nine or ten roommates, but I ran them all out with my depressive and antisocial nature. The higher side of that is that I always get a room to myself. So is suppose it works out, but until this week, I have spent almost all of the last 6 years by myself. I mean I see other people and I talk and stuff but I've destroyed every relationship with anyone that meant anything." Elizabeth stopped and turned to Henry taking his other hand. "I really like you, but I don't know if I would be doing either of us a favor by continuing this thing we have. I don't want to hurt you."

Henry pulled the tissues from his pocket and dried her eyes. "Do you have any idea how strong and brave you are? The loss you've endured would have broken most people." Henry looked at her with such tenderness, Elizabeth's rock hard exterior was starting to crumble. Henry saw and led her back to the car. "Let's get you back home," he said.

He led her back to the car and drove back to his apartment. Walking in, he sat her down on the couch and fixed them a cup of coffee. "How are you doing?" Henry asked as he placed the cup in her hands, sitting next to her.

"I'm fine. I dealt with it a long time ago. How are you?" she asked.

"Your story explains a lot about how your react to certain things," he said. "But you are still the smartest, funniest and by far the most beautiful woman I've ever met. I still want to be around you, date you, whatever. You didn't deter me from wanting to get to know you better. It only gave me insight on what you might need."

"Really? And what is it that I might need?" she responded a little harshly, but Henry didn't take offense.

"You need acceptance, and love, and no judgement. And for the record, all teenagers say some really dumb things to their parents. All of them have arguments and harsh words. Whatever happened with you and your mom the day she died, didn't changed her feelings for you. She still loved you. She was your mom, she knew that you loved her."

Elizabeth looked up, her eyes filled with tears. "Do you really think so?"

Henry studied her before speaking. "Did you love your mom even after your argument? I mean, I know you were probably mad or whatever, but did you still love her?"

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Do you see that you aren't giving her the same credit? Yeah, you had a fight. Yeah, maybe she was mad. But, why wouldn't she love you even if she might have been mad. And she came to get you to go with them. That doesn't sound like something she would do if she were mad or didn't love you., does it?"

"I guess. I can see it when you lay it out like that, but it doesn't feel that way at all."

"Guilt is a hard thing to get around. The rest of it. I don't know. I don't understand it, but I do know that people are put in our life for a reason. How we met is a very odd story for sure, and one might be inclined to call it "meant to be." I'm willing to give you a chance if you will give me one. Us one." Henry picked Elizabeth's hands up and cradled them in his own. "Please?"

"Yes," she whispered. Henry squeezed her hands before placing them back in her lap.

"I'm hungry. What shall we have to eat?" Henry stood and headed over to the kitchen.

"Got any pasta?" Elizabeth asked, wiping her eyes one last time before she stood.

"Spaghetti, Alfredo or lasagna? I think we have the stuff for all of those." Henry stood with both the pantry and refrigerator doors open surveying the available ingredients.

"Mmm, lasagna sounds wonderful. Tell me what I can do to help," Elizabeth said, rounding the end of the bar to join him in the kitchen.

"Okay, you grab the ground beef and brown it. I'll get the noodles started and make the sauce."

Elizabeth took the meat from the fridge. "Umm, it occurs to me in this moment that I have no idea what that means. I cannot cook at all, so you might need to look at this as a teaching moment and not so much a joint effort." She offered him a small smile.

Henry laughed, "Fair enough. Those cabinets to the right of the stove have the pots and pans in them. We'll need a skillet and a big pot for the noodles. Get those out and set them on the stove."

"That I can do," she said, bending down to look in the cabinet. She produced the skillet and pot and placed them on the stove. "The pot needs water in it, right?" Henry nodded as he unceremoniously dumped several cold items on the counter and swiftly grabbed the ricotta container before it rolled off.

"Yes, fill it about half full." And so the two continued to work together with Henry instructing Elizabeth step by step. There was laughter, playful nudges and a sense of calm and peacefulness between them that there hadn't been before.

Elizabeth was sitting at the bar watching Henry put the lasagna together and in that moment, her feelings caught up with her. Henry was engrossed in his task until he heard a sniffle. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong really. I'm just happy, and I haven't been happy in so long. It's scary, and that's dumb. And I just want to be normal sometimes. This," she gestured to him and the lasagna, "This doesn't make normal people cry." Dropping what he was doing, Henry wiped his hands and rounded the bar. He spun the barstool so she faced him and wrapped his arms around her gathering her in a warm hug. She instantly tensed and she struggled to get her hands up to push him back. "N-no, no hugs," she said fiercely. Elizabeth slipped off the barstool, holding Henry at arm's length. The devastated look in his eyes was even more than she could handle right then. "Dammit," she muttered. "I'm sorry," the silent tears had turned into full on sobs, and Henry was helpless to do anything to comfort her. "I-I just. I just need to calm down," she finally choked out as she retreated to the bedroom, leaving a dumbfounded and rejected Henry standing in the middle of the room.

Henry was at a loss. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he had definitely crossed a line by hugging her, although he didn't understand exactly where he'd gone wrong. He would apologize of course and try to figure out what he needed to do better. He hadn't meant to make the situation worse. Rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, he let out a long breath. _God, I screwed that one up big time. Help me to fix it, please._

He finished the lasagna and put it in the oven. It had an hour to bake, so he decided to lie down on the couch and rest. Maybe he could come up with something to make Elizabeth feel better.

Elizabeth's sobs had quieted. She wiped her tears and tried to calm her shuddering breaths. What had just happened? She tried to piece together the last few minutes and how she went from sadness to happiness to a level of uncomfortable that made her flee the room, leaving Henry behind.

As she calmed, she thought about it carefully. He had tried to hug her, a completely normal reaction for what the situation was. Except she didn't feel comfort. She felt trapped, and scared, powerless. Why was that? She remembered being hugged by her parents all the time. She never associated hugging with anything bad. She thought harder. Elizabeth fished out the memory of her grandfather's hand squeezed tight on her shoulder, pushing her forward, next to the caskets. Her mother and father's bodies laid out in caskets next to her and people, hundreds of people passing through to pay their respects. They were well meaning people, many of them she knew, all wanting to hug her. She wanted to flee, but her grandfather held her in the spot, not letting her retreat, letting all of the strangers wrap their arms around her and squeeze the breath from her, over and over again.

The twenty year old could see the mourner's perspective, thinking they were offering solace to a young girl who had just lost her parents. She could also vividly feel the violation that she felt being touched by people she didn't want to touch her. Then there was Henry, caught in the middle of her damaged life. Thinking about it now, rationally, she yearned for his touch. When they held hands, her fingers meshed together with his perfectly and it felt so right. She even had dreams of him kissing her and she had woken up flushed. It wasn't that Elizabeth didn't want him to touch her. She just needed to figure out a way to separate the two experiences. Having calmed down, Elizabeth thought she would go and try to explain herself to Henry.

She didn't see him at first, thinking he might have gone to his room or even left the apartment, but then she heard his quiet breathing. Walking to the couch, she peered over the back and saw him sleeping. The quiet rise and fall of his chest, the soft expression on his handsome face. She felt the now all too familiar flutter in her stomach. She walked around and sat down on the floor in front of the couch. Taking his hand in hers, she kissed it and held it to her cheek. Keeping it there, she leaned into the side of the couch, her head resting on Henry's hip and she closed her eyes.

Half an hour later, the oven timer beeped. Henry opened his eyes and was both surprised and elated at the sight before him. Elizabeth was curled up next to the couch, holding his hand, head resting against him. There was a large part of him that thought it would be just fine to let the lasagna burn just so he could stay this way, but then he knew he'd have to make an alternate dinner and he didn't want to wait, knowing they were both hungry.

"Sleepyhead, wake up," he ruffled the top of her head and she started to rouse.

"Henry?" she looked around confused and then smiled. When she caught his gaze, she became serious. "I need to talk about what happened earlier."

"Yeah. Dinner's ready. Why don't we do that while we're eating." They both stood and Elizabeth turned to walk to the kitchen. "Wait," Henry said, taking her hand, "I just wanted to apologize."

"It's fine. We'll talk about it in a bit." She smiled at him.

Sitting down at the table, Elizabeth waited for Henry to pray. She thought about that. It was awkward at first, but now just part of the routine. Elizabeth pondered that. So many things had happened this past week and it had all been uncomfortable at the beginning and now she didn't even think about it. She liked having someone to talk to. She liked eating with Henry. She liked going places with him. She hoped that at some point she would like his affection, his hugs and kisses and maybe more. Red flooded her face as she thought about the maybe more. When she glanced up, Henry was watching her with a smirk on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"Just watching you make yourself blush. I'd like to know what you were thinking about," Henry grinned at her, only half teasing and hoping they were having similar thoughts.

"Stop it! I had been thinking about how quickly we have just fallen into a comfortable pattern."

Henry looked at her quizzically. "How do you mean?"

"Just that when we first met, we were both super awkward and didn't know what to say and now we can talk to each other without it being weird."

"Unless I do something weird," Henry interjected, thinking of the hug that shouldn't have been.

"Or I overreact to things normal people do." Elizabeth met Henry's gaze. "It took me awhile to even figure it out. It wasn't a conscious reaction. It comes from when my parents died and my grandfather made me stay next to the caskets and hug everyone that came to pay their respects. It was people I didn't know touching me when I was much too vulnerable and I couldn't escape it. That, and not being hugged since then probably just-well, just one more thing that makes me weird, and hard to get to know and antisocial and whatever else it makes me.

Henry covered her hand with his. "It only makes you someone who has dealt with something terribly traumatic. That's all. I think we'll just let you take the lead. You tell me what you're comfortable with. That way I won't accidentally go too far and make you uncomfortable or, God forbid, scare you. That's the last thing I want to do. I'm still in if you'll have me. And I really am sorry. I just didn't know."

"It appears that makes two of us. I had never thought about it again after it happened. Who would've known that it would surface six years later?" Looking down at her plate, she said, "This is the best lasagna I've ever eaten by the way."

"I had an excellent assistant," he smiled and she smiled back and in that moment, the world was righted once again.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Today while writing, I decided there should be an epilogue to this story. So, look for one addition in the next few days.

Chapter 6

"Okay, You win. You are in much better shape than I am." Elizabeth flopped down on the park bench trying to catch her breath. "I'm going to die," she gasped.

"Oh stop. You aren't going to die," Henry teased still jogging in place in front of her. "Besides, this was your idea." Henry grinned, excited to finally find an activity that he might be better at.

"I forgot you are in ROTC and actually run miles, as in plural." She sucked in more air. "Okay, I'm better. Just another couple minutes maybe."

Henry stopped and stared down at Elizabeth. Her olive skin glistened with sweat. The strands of hair that escaped her ponytail were stuck to her forehead and cheek. Her arms were toned and when she stood, her legs went for miles. Henry swallowed thickly, meeting her gaze. Those eyes. Wow!

"Henry, come back to me,." she teased. He blinked and looked at her again, this time actually paying attention.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Ready to head back?" he asked.

She smiled mischievously, "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Henry said, blushing.

"Liar," Elizabeth accused and then took off running. Henry started out with the plan to catch her, but quickly decided that the view was just fine right where he was.

When they made it back to the front of Henry's apartment, he caught her by the hand. "Thanks for running with me."

"You're welcome," she said smiling at him.

"You're beautiful," he said before his brain had time to process the wiseness of that statement. Hearing what he had said, Henry blushed. "I'm sorry. That was really forward of me."

Elizabeth grinned wickedly at him and placed her hand on his chest. "You're handsome," she paused. "And I call first dibs on the shower." She turned and raced up the stairs. Henry just chuckled and pulled the key from his pocket. She wouldn't be getting that far.

That night, a pizza box lay open on the coffee table in front of the couch. They were watching The Princess Bride. Well, Henry was watching the movie. Elizabeth was uncomfortably watching Henry. Currently they were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, but she had a strong desire to sit closer. To feel his touch, at least in some way. But she was nervous, and unsure about how to go about initiating that. When Henry said he would let her take the lead, that sounded great at the time. Now, she wasn't sure she knew how to do that. She shifted uncomfortably.

Henry watched her in his peripheral vision. He knew she was watching him, but didn't know what that was supposed to mean. When she moved, he took it as a cue to ask. "Are you ok?"

"Yes. Fine," she responded a little too quickly, giving away the fact that she was focused on him and not the movie. "No I'm not," she blurted out, surprising herself.

Henry's eyes shot back in her direction. "What's wrong?"

"I want to touch you." Henry's eyes narrowed, "You want to do what?"

"No. I want you to touch me. Wait!" Elizabeth took a deep breath. "I want us to be close enough to touch."

Henry chuckled, "Okay, I thought we'd skipped several steps in familiarity there." He was relieved honestly. For a split second, he thought Elizabeth might want something that he wasn't ready for, and that was going to be really awkward. "How much touching? Like holding hands touching or leaning against me touching? Or something in between?"

"Let's go small first."

"Okay." Henry waited. "Umm, are you going to scoot over here or what?"

"Oh, yeah, would help." She slid over just past the middle until she was a few inches from Henry. He offered her his hand. Elizabeth smiled and took it. Threading her fingers through his, she let their hands lie between them. There, that's better.

For a while it was better, until the small touch made her crave more. She wanted to be closer to Henry. She slipped her hand out of his and while his hand immediately released hers, he tensed up thinking he might have done something. Noticing the change, she murmured, "I'm fine," and she moved his arm over her shoulder and cuddled into his side. A couple of times, Elizabeth had to consciously remind herself that this was Henry and she welcomed his touch, but she felt so much peace being there tucked into his side.

Henry looked down at the top of Elizabeth's head and breathed a sigh of relief. He felt like they were making some progress. She came to him. He smiled. Elizabeth tipped her head back and looked at Henry. "What?"

"This just feels good. That's all."

"It does. Thank you for being patient. I know it would be easier with someone else."

Henry cut her off. "But I don't want to be with someone else. I want to be with you." Henry pressed his cheek to the top of her head and wondered how long it might take to get to kiss Elizabeth. It didn't matter, he decided, he would wait.

The next morning, Elizabeth reluctantly folded all of her clothes and made sure that everything was just as she had found it. Henry made her pancakes for breakfast. They were quiet, not knowing exactly what to say. They had lived together for a week and had grown quite fond of having the other around. Now he would be taking her back to the dorm as all of the other students would be returning from Spring Break.

"Do you have things to do to get ready for class tomorrow?" Henry asked.

"Not really. I was going to review some reading to refresh my memory, but nothing big. Do you?"

"No. Do you want to take a walk with me tonight?"

She smiled at him. "You're going to drop me off at noon and pick me up at-"

"6?," he finished.

"That's only six hours. You won't even miss me at that point."

"I was going to say 4, but I thought that would make me look desperate."

Elizabeth giggled, "It's a date."

As the two stood next to each other doing the breakfast dishes, Elizabeth turned and looked at Henry. Feeling her eyes on him, he turned and took the towel from her to dry his hands.

They just looked at each other for a while and finally Elizabeth spoke as the tears formed at the edges of her eyes. "I thought about how crazy and weird and wonderful this week has been. Then I was thinking about how my week was supposed to go. Even if I didn't have the whole hospital debacle, I would have stayed in my room, reading and talked to no one. Chances are, I wouldn't have made a sound, except the midweek pity party I would've had, crying most of the night. You changed all of that. I know you had no idea what kind of crazy you were getting when you decided it was a good idea to carry me into the ER and stay, but I hope it was worth it. It was life changing for me. Thank you."

"The first time I saw you, I knew you were special. I'm glad you allowed me the opportunity to find out just how special you are. It was most certainly worth it."

An hour later, they were parked in front of Elizabeth's dorm. "Well," she said. "This is it."

"Yeah. It won't be the same at home without you there."

"It's not like I can't come and visit."

"No. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask if you wanted to move in?"

"Uh, probably. A little bit," she grinned at him. "At least now it would."

He smirked, "So maybe not later?" Elizabeth shrugged.

"Thank you Henry. For everything. I'll see you tonight."

That afternoon, Elizabeth did all of her laundry and aired out her very stale room. She should have been getting her mind back on her classes, but Henry had taken up permanent residence in her thoughts. She was sitting on the front step when he got there that evening. She watched him park and met him on the sidewalk as he came walking up. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah. I didn't expect you to be waiting. I hope you didn't wait long."

"No. Only a couple minutes. I was just anxious to see you again." She smiled shyly at him.

"I'm going to take a moment to point out that you made fun of me earlier for making a date six hours after dropping you off, and you were as anxious as I was."

She laughed. "I suppose I underestimated my infatuation with you Henry." She raised her eyebrows at him. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but the thought sent her head turning the opposite direction, a crimson blush covering her face.

Henry thought he had an idea what she might be thinking and decided to leave it alone. Her look said everything he felt and he could only hope that she would one days share those feelings with him.

He offered her his hand. "Are you ready?" She nodded. They walked for a bit, not speaking, but it was comfortable. They no longer felt the need to fill every moment with words. The silence provided Elizabeth some time to think about the man walking next to her. As much as she had originally tried to deny it, she liked Henry. A lot. She even thought that those feelings would turn to love if given the chance. That both scared and excited her. Her stomach was doing acrobatic maneuvers inside her body. She ached to have him closer, so she slipped her hand from his and slid it around his waist and leaned into him.

Henry smiled as Elizabeth shifted her body into him. Two days ago, she had completely flipped out when he touched her and now she was snuggled into him. He leaned into her a little and could smell the lavender scent wafting through her hair. He smiled again. He hadn't ever been this happy with anyone he had ever dated, not that he dated frequently. He preferred to only date people he thought he might want to get to know better. It just so happened that either he knew after the first couple of dates that he wasn't interested long term or they decided that for him.

Elizabeth was different. She was so smart and so beautiful. She was hard to get to know, although Henry had decided only a couple days after meeting her that he was willing to do whatever it took to get to know her. Looking down again, here she was, her arm wrapped around him allowing him to be her comfort. He could see doing this for the rest of his life, if only she would have him.

"Do you want to watch the sunset?" he asked.

"That would be nice," she answered.

They talked comfortably about classes and professors and things on campus as the sun sank into the horizon.

"It's beautiful," she whispered as the blue faded into pink, then red around the golden ball in the center.

"You are," Elizabeth turned to find Henry looking down at her with his dark brown eyes. She could see there was strong emotion behind them. It made her stomach flutter so much that before she could even think about it, the words came tumbling out of her mouth.

"Henry, will you kiss me?

Henry's face broke out into a wide grin. "Are you sure?"

She answered before her brain could form a contrary argument. "I am."

Henry's eyes, which had twinkled when she asked the question, now darkened, understanding the gravity of what was about to happen. He slipped his hand into her hair pressing a kiss to her forehead and one to her cheek, giving her every opportunity to decide that kissing him wasn't a good idea.

He pulled back just enough to catch Elizabeth's eyes and make sure she was okay. She smiled slightly and nodded, letting her eyes slip closed. He gently brushed his lips against hers before taking her top lip between his and sucking gently.

Her hand slipped up and played with the hairs at the nape of his neck. Henry's lips curved into a small smile against hers. Running his tongue along the seam, she opened her mouth allowing his tongue to touch hers. They carefully explored each other until finally Henry pulled back.

Henry grinned, "That was-nice."

Elizabeth nodded. "Nice enough to do it again?"

"Oh yeah. Nice enough to do it again, and again, and again."

"So, what are you waiting f-" Elizabeth's voice cut short by Henry's lips on hers. She hummed into him and he deepened the kiss. It still held the same tenderness, but there was a passion that hadn't been there before.

"Wow!" Elizabeth gasped as she inhaled deeply. "That was incredible!"

Henry smirked. He felt the same way. He'd kissed a fair number of girls but it had never felt like that. "You are an incredible kisser," he murmured as he pressed another kiss to her cheek.

Elizabeth giggled, "A skill I didn't know I had."

"I bet you have several untapped skills." Henry said seriously.

Elizabeth blushed and she pushed him back. It was then that Henry realized the alternate meaning to "untapped."

"Oh no! That wasn't at all what I meant. I am so sorry." Henry blushed from embarrassment.

"I know you didn't." Elizabeth was laughing uncontrollably by that point. "That was too funny."

"I'm so glad you can laugh at my expense," Henry teased. "It's getting dark. We should head back."

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Henry and he had one arm over her shoulder. They made plans to see each other Tuesday morning for coffee and Friday evening for dinner at Henry's. Back at the door to her room, Henry leaned down and kissed her chastely before saying goodbye. After watching him walk down the hallway, Elizabeth stepped into her room and shut the door behind her.

Smiling to herself, she pulled a leather journal from her desk drawer. She crawled into the middle of her bed and reached over, turning on a bedside lamp. Timidly she opened the journal and saw her name, written in her early high school curly handwriting. She had received the journal for her 14th birthday. It had remained unopened until the day her parents died.

Turning the page, she read the large words at the top. "The First Time…"

The first entry was "I knew I was alone." Flipping through the pages, she remembered the pain that accompanied many of the entries

"I wondered why I am still alive."

"She looked through me instead of at me."

"I thought about killing myself."

"No one was there for my graduation."

"I sat through Parents' Weekend with no parents."

Wiping her eyes, she turned to a fresh page. At the top, she wrote "The First Time Spring Break 1989"

"I got a concussion."

"I passed out in a parking lot."

"I went home with a guy I didn't know."

"I taught someone to fish."

"I played disc golf (badly)."

"I told someone what happened to my parents."

"I helped make lasagna."

"I snuggled with a guy while watching a movie."

"I kissed a guy"

"I think I might be falling in love."

"It was the best week of my life."

Closing the journal, she crawled off her bed and placed it under the other books in her drawer. She secretly hoped that the tide was turning and her new entry was an indication of more happy first times waiting to be made.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This is it! I'm kind of sad to see this one end, but I'm having a terrible time keeping up with two different stories. Someone asked me if this was sort of a prequel to Evolution. It wasn't written with that purpose at all. I just spend entirely too much time thinking about young Henry/Elizabeth, so events could fit together. I'm thinking about a new multi-chapter story idea for the young couple, but I have to get Evolution to the point where it is just one shots at different intervals of their married lives. I don't have the mental fortitude to keep two ongoing story lines straight. :)

Thanks for reading and a big thank you for the reviews. Until January, I hadn't written anything creative since my thesis, more than a couple decades ago (yes, I may be old enough to be a parent to a large number of people who read fan fiction-a point which my children always make when they torment me about my new hobby). So, your positive words mean a lot to me. Thank you.

Epilogue

January 2018

The McCord children filed through the house carrying soggy bottomed boxes to the kitchen table. "I think these are the last ones," Jason said.

Elizabeth pushed up her sleeves, "Ok take out the stuff on the top that we know isn't wet and then Dad and I will sort through the bottom of the boxes to see if there is anything we have to try and salvage." Looking at the ever growing pile of mementos from their life that was headed to the trash was a little overwhelming. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she still had all of the memories and that this was just stuff and the damage could have been so much worse.

"Okay," Allison said, lugging a pile of books into the dining room. "Those look like old college books of dad's. Why are we keeping them again? It's not like we need a microeconomics book from 1988."

"Valid point," Henry agreed as he walked through the room. "Why don't you just make a stack of all of those and I'll flip through them real fast and then we'll find a place to donate them-or something."

"Recycle," Jason and Stevie said in unison, and laughed.

The process went on and on. By early evening, they had enough and decided to order pizza and stay in the living room away from the mess. The family sat around talking about some of the silly, dumb and sometimes sentimental things they found when going through the boxes. The girls, Elizabeth and Henry all spent time trying to make Jason feel better about the baby book he found, which was dedicated to him, but conspicuously empty.

Jason was annoyed with the whole situation and fled into the kitchen to get more pizza. Henry followed with everyone's empty plates, but once he put them in the dishwasher, he went back to look at that stack of books in the dining room.

"Wow! These bring back memories," Henry said, thumbing through the books on top of the pile. "Good grief, I hated this class," he said, holding a book by Immanuel Kant.

Jason walked through, and snatched the book from Henry's hands. "Kant. I like him. I'll take that." Flipping the book open, he tossed it back to Henry. "Nevermind, it smells musty. I think I have it on my iPad anyway." Henry just rolled his eyes and decided that most of these were going to see the recycle pile. Glancing at the spines, he decided that they weren't really necessary to keep.

"Hey Jace. Will you help me carry these outside?"

"Sure. Give me a second." Jason stepped into the living room and set his plate down.

They each took a pile outside and tossed it in the bin. Jason caught a glimpse of something when the books fell. "What's that?" Jason reached down into the bin..

"What's what?" Henry asked, peering over his shoulder.

Jason reached down into the bin. "It's an envelope. It fell out of one of the books." Holding the envelope out to catch the light from the back porch, he read, "Spring Break 1989. Ooh, dad is this going to be blackmail material? You know, racy spring break pics?" Jason laughed.

Henry had to do a little math, but then he remembered the significance of that particular Spring Break. Reaching out, he plucked the envelope from Jason's hands before he could open it. "Hey, I found that," Jason protested as they entered the kitchen.

"Found what?" Elizabeth asked.

"This," Henry said, slipping the envelope into her hand. Confusion swept across her face as she studied the writing on the envelope.

"What's in it?" she asked, just a little on edge.

"Truthfully, babe, I don't remember. I don't think I've even seen that envelope since I sealed it."

Elizabeth slipped her arm around Henry's waist and he pulled her close. She looked up at her husband of 28 years. "That seems like an eternity ago."

"It does, but it seems like yesterday at the same time."

"Yeah. Shall we?" She looked to Henry. Henry nodded.

Jason immediately sensed the change in his parents' demeanor and quietly went into the living room to tell the girls what he found. The three now stood silent in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room watching this rather unique exchange play out.

Elizabeth slipped her finger under the loose edge and slid it underneath the flap. Opening the envelope, Elizabeth dumped the contents on the island. She giggled and elbowed Henry. "I can't believe you saved this." She held up her hospital bracelet. "Look at these. I don't even remember taking all of these pictures."

"Oh my! We absolutely suck at disc golf."

Laughing, she laid her head on his shoulder. "That is the understatement of the century." Flipping to the next picture, she commented, " I still remember. That was some good ice cream."

"I don't remember that much about it. You ate most of that sundae."

"I did not." Henry narrowed his eyes at her. "Okay, I may have eaten more than my share."

"That's closer to the truth."

"Can we see?" Stevie asked. Elizabeth and Henry looked up, completely oblivious to their children's presence until that moment.

"Uh, sure," she said sliding the handful of photographs to them as they crowded around the opposite side of the island.

"Oh my gosh mom," Allison cried. "What happened to your head?"

"Yeah, you look like one of those dinosaurs with the giant plate growing out of its head," Jason joked.

"Stop being stupid," Ali chastised.

"Come on. It looks terrible." Jason tried to defend himself.

"Guys, cut it out," Henry said intervening.

Elizabeth smiled looking at the now upside down pictures. "I whacked my head and got a concussion. Oh, I remember how bad it hurt. I had headaches for weeks after that. It was so bad to start with, it made my eyes swell shut."

"I didn't know that," Henry turned and looked at her, shocked at the admission.

"That was the day before you came and broke me out of the hospital."

"Ah, hmm."

Elizabeth reached out and picked up a piece of folded paper that was laying next to the hospital bracelet. Elizabeth opened the paper and looked at Henry. "Where did you find this?" She picked her glasses up off the island and slipped them on. Stepping into the family room away from the kids, she carefully read her list of firsts from so long ago, she remembered all of the emotion she had that evening when she sat in her dorm room writing it. Looking at Henry, who walked over and stood looking over her shoulder, she asked again, "Where?"

"The weekend you moved in, I saw a journal in the trash. It looked too nice to be thrown away so I picked it up. I was pretty sure you wouldn't want the rest of the pages, but I thought you might like that one."

"I should be pissed that you read my journal, even if it was in the trash," she said.

"I guess you can be mad if you want. I knew almost everything anyway, but reading it altogether was hard. I remember that much."

"I'm not mad. Although I probably would have been then."

"Probably."

"So mom," Stevie asked, catching Elizabeth's attention. "How long had you been dating when this happened?"

She folded the paper and moved back to the island where the kids were standing. "We weren't dating." Elizabeth looked at Henry silently asking him if they should tell that story. He nodded slightly indicating that if was fine with him if she wanted to. "In fact, we had never met until that day at the hospital."

"What?" all three kids said at once.

"Yep, but I think this story is going to require some ice cream to go with it."

"Most definitely," Ali chimed in.

"I got the bowls," Jason said rounding the island to reach in the cabinet.

Stevie produced 3 containers from the freezer. "Fudge ripple, strawberry vanilla swirl or Reese's cup."

Watching their three kids, Elizabeth turned to Henry and leaned into him. "I think this story has a pretty decent ending," she said softly.

"It does." He smiled and kissed her before collecting their bowls and heading into the living room for family story time.


End file.
